Robbie Lawler retains UFC welterweight championship, wins split decision vs Carlos Condit

“I felt like I had three rounds in the bag, but that’s why you don’t leave it to the judges”, Condit told commentator, Joe Rogan. While it is clear Condit has the reach advantage, reach is not everything when someone hits as hard as Robbie Lawler.

“That’s just two competitors with a lot of heart and a lot of skill just trying to get the job done”, Lawler said.

The first MMA event of 2016 is upon us and it comes in the form of the Ultimate Fighting Championships and most notably, UFC 195. “‘And still’-but let’s do it again”.

Per Tristen Critchfield of Sherdog.com, White praised both fighters after the bout: “Both guys made it one of the greatest rounds you’ll ever see anywhere in any fight”. He had a legitimate argument that he had finally won the big one, but he showed his class by accepting the verdict. “And I feel very confident that it is”, Condit said.

The volume continued for Condit in the fourth. I did all I could to win, and I got the victory.

It was a closely contested battle that could have gone either way and could have depended in part on where the judge was seated.

In the co-main event, heavyweight Stipe Miocic put himself in front of the line to fight the victor of the February 6 title fight between champion Fabricio Werdum and Cain Velasquez by scoring a first-round technical knockout of former champion Andrei Arlovski. I don’t know. It was, tonight was kind of a do-or-die moment for my career and I was all in. if I got that strap, I was going to keep fighting.

“I knew it was close but I thought there was a good chance I was ahead, but I never rely on that”.

Lawler and Condit clung to the Octagon’s fence bloodied and exhausted at the final bell. I have way more power than him.

Former champion Johny Hendricks, who is 1-1 against Lawler, is also in the mix, provided he wins his upcoming bout against Stephen Thompson.

Regardless of what one thought of the outcome, and opinions were divided, both earned massive respect.

Asked why he would consider walking away after coming agonisingly close to securing the belt in a bruising five-round affair, Condit replied: “I’ve been at this for a long time”. The fight was everything everyone said it would be.

However, perhaps the most startling statistic is that Lawler has absorbed 691 significant strikes in UFC competition since January 1 2013, the most of any fighter in the company since that date.

If he hasn’t become a can’t miss fighter, he has to be now. UFC President Dana White was even quick enough to call it a performance to remember.